Should You Buy Fortrea Holdings Inc (FTRE) Today? Analysis, Price Targets, and 2026 Outlook.
Conclusion
Hold
Latest Price
17.050
1 Day change
1.91%
52 Week Range
18.670
Analysis Updated At
2026/01/28
FTRE is not a good buy right now for a beginner long-term investor deploying $50k–$100k. Despite a clear improvement in Wall Street sentiment (multiple upgrades and higher targets), the stock’s near-term technicals are still weak (bearish MACD), the latest quarter shows margin compression and deeper losses, and both insider and hedge-fund activity skew negative. If you want long-term exposure, this is better treated as a watchlist/hold until price action improves rather than an immediate buy today.
Technical Analysis
Price is 16.735 (down -2.28% regular session) and is sitting just above the pivot/support zone (Pivot 16.632; S1 15.70). Momentum is currently bearish: MACD histogram is negative (-0.162) and expanding lower, which typically signals a weakening trend. RSI(6) at ~45.9 is neutral (not oversold), so there isn’t a clear mean-reversion “bounce” signal. Moving averages are converging, suggesting indecision, but with MACD deteriorating the near-term bias remains downward/sideways. Key levels: a clean reclaim of 17.56 (R1) would improve the setup; a breakdown toward 15.70 (S1) would worsen it.
Options Data
Bullish
Open Interest Put-Call Ratio
Bearish
Option Volume Put-Call Ratio
Open interest is heavily call-skewed (OI put/call 0.08; calls 13,685 vs puts 1,099), which can reflect longer-dated bullish positioning. However, today’s trading flow is bearish/defensive: put volume dominates (put/call volume ratio 7.86; puts 55 vs calls 7) and total volume is far above average (today vs 30D avg ~29.38x), suggesting active hedging or bearish speculation in the near term. Implied volatility is relatively low versus its own history (IV percentile 20; IV rank 16.59), indicating options are not currently pricing extreme upside/downside versus prior periods.
Technical Summary
Sell
1
Buy
10
Positive Catalysts
1) Analyst sentiment has turned sharply more constructive: multiple upgrades (Evercore to Outperform PT $25; Truist to Buy PT $22; Citi to Buy PT $21) pointing to improving execution, commercial momentum, and a clearer path to margin recovery.
2) Sector/industry narrative improving: several notes highlight a better biopharma spending cycle into 2026 and a potential “clearing event” for operating conditions.
3) Pattern-based forward expectation in the provided data leans positive over one month (+5.31% expected), even though near-term week is slightly negative.
Neutral/Negative Catalysts
1) Technical momentum is still negative (MACD bearishly expanding) and the stock is below near-term resistance (17.56).
2) Trading trends are a material red flag: hedge funds selling accelerated (+182.65% last quarter) and insiders selling accelerated (+105.42% last month).
3) Options flow is near-term bearish (very high put/call volume ratio), implying traders are positioning defensively.
4) No supportive news catalysts in the last week to interrupt the current weakening tape.
Financial Performance
Latest reported quarter: 2025/Q3. Revenue grew to $701.3M (+3.91% YoY), but profitability worsened: net income fell to -$15.9M (down 43.01% YoY), EPS declined to -$0.17 (down 45.16% YoY), and gross margin dropped to 14.7% (-21.93% YoY). The top line is improving modestly, but the margin trend is moving the wrong direction, which matters for a long-term “quality” buy decision.
Growth
Profitability
Efficiency
Analyst Ratings and Price Target Trends
Recent trend: clear upward shift in ratings/targets from late 2025 into Jan 2026. Key moves include Citi upgrade to Buy (PT $21), Truist upgrade to Buy (PT $22), Evercore upgrade to Outperform (PT $25), while some firms remain cautious with Hold/Neutral (TD Cowen PT $15 Hold; Mizuho PT $15 Neutral).
Wall Street pros: improving execution under new leadership, potential margin recovery, and a better biopharma spending cycle into 2026.
Wall Street cons: lingering uncertainty in operating conditions and the presence of multiple Hold/Neutral views clustered around ~$15 suggests limited conviction that fundamentals have fully turned yet.
Influential buying/selling: No recent congress trading data available; however, insiders and hedge funds have been net sellers recently, which is a negative signal.
Wall Street analysts forecast FTRE stock price to fall over the next 12 months. According to Wall Street analysts, the average 1-year price target for FTRE is 15.33 USD with a low forecast of 7 USD and a high forecast of 25 USD. However, analyst price targets are subjective and often lag stock prices, so investors should focus on the objective reasons behind analyst rating changes, which better reflect the company's fundamentals.
8 Analyst Rating
Wall Street analysts forecast FTRE stock price to fall over the next 12 months. According to Wall Street analysts, the average 1-year price target for FTRE is 15.33 USD with a low forecast of 7 USD and a high forecast of 25 USD. However, analyst price targets are subjective and often lag stock prices, so investors should focus on the objective reasons behind analyst rating changes, which better reflect the company's fundamentals.
3 Buy
4 Hold
1 Sell
Hold
Current: 16.730
Low
7
Averages
15.33
High
25
Current: 16.730
Low
7
Averages
15.33
High
25
TD Cowen
Hold
to
Hold
upgrade
$7 -> $15
AI Analysis
2026-01-22
Reason
TD Cowen
Price Target
$7 -> $15
AI Analysis
2026-01-22
upgrade
Hold
to
Hold
Reason
TD Cowen raised the firm's price target on Fortrea to $15 from $7 and keeps a Hold rating on the shares. The firm adjusted targets in the contract research organization space as part of a Q4 preview. TD generally expects solid Q4 prints and sees potential for 2026 outlooks to "represent a clearing event for operating conditions."
Mizuho
Neutral
maintain
$13 -> $15
2026-01-09
Reason
Mizuho
Price Target
$13 -> $15
2026-01-09
maintain
Neutral
Reason
Mizuho raised the firm's price target on Fortrea to $15 from $13 and keeps a Neutral rating on the shares. The firm updated targets in the healthcare facilities and managed care group as part of a Q4 preview. Mizuho's physician survey indicated healthcare utilization growth trends decelerated sequentially despite easier year-over-year comps, which could indicate trend is peaking, the analyst tells investors in a research note.
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